Millennial Men Are Not Selfish and Self-Obsessed, Science Says

Trending News: Millennial Men Aren't Selfish and Entitled, According To Study

Long Story Short

Millennial men. Selfish, self-obsessed and entitled, right? Wrong, according to a new study.

Long Story

Sometimes it feels like every second day there’s someone taking shots at millennials. They’re lazy, entitled, selfish, commitment-phobes — or so the thinking goes (of course, many of those opinions come from the baby boomer generation that still tends to control the reins in media.)

But what if, contrary to popular stereotypes, young men today are actually selfless, socially engaged and health-conscious? Because that’s the finding of a new collaborative study from Canada’s University of British Columbia and Intensions Consulting, a Vancouver-based market research firm.

Researchers spoke to 630 Canadian men aged 15 to 29 and found the value they most strongly endorsed was selflessness. Ninety-one percent of men thought a man should help other people, with 80 percent believing that a man should give back to the community. Openness was also highly valued, with 88 percent saying a man should be open to new ideas, experiences and people.

The other value that scored high was health, with the majority of participants in the study saying men should be healthy or in good shape.

Interestingly, this didn’t mean more traditional male values were a total waste. Seventy-five percent of men said physical strength was important — it’s just that the number doesn’t stack up against the 87 percent who valued intellectual strength, or the 83 percent who valued emotional strength.

“Young Canadian men seem to be holding masculine values that are distinctly different from those of previous generations,” said lead author John Oliffe. Oliffe heads up the men's health research program at the University of British Columbia. “These values may run counter to long-standing claims that young men are typically hedonistic, hyper-competitive and that they risk or neglect their health.”

Oliffe’s comments tap into one major issue with the study. It surveyed Canadians. And we all know how great those northerners are. Oliffe says one of the next steps would be to include other age groups and geographical locations into the study.

Still, this goes a long way to neutering some of the incessant inter-generational sniping when it comes to millennials.

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Ask The Big Question

Are Canadians a good barometer for the rest of the western world on this issue?

Drop This Fact

Millennials recently eclipsed Gen X-ers as the largest share of the American workforce. 56 million are either working or looking for work in 2017.

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